Hitting the Wall

Take one very small but determined writing friend. Put her in a confined space for several days. Whine at her frequently about what a hard time you're having working on a particular novel. If that friend is Mary Nethery, here is what will happen:

She will make you find your car keys and drive to the town of Blaine where you will search for a roll of paper. You will buy that roll of paper and some Sharpies (double-tipped!). Then, without even letting you stop to buy some M&M's for comfort, she makes you drive back to the house. The paper is first unrolled on the floor but our backs and hips are too old for this to work for long. So upstairs, in my loft/office, we hang the paper. (There is a terrific 3M product that allows you to hang posters without damaging newly painted -- or even oldly painted --walls.)


Here I am, writing away. Here is what went on this paper (after much blood, sweat -- Mary's -- and tears -- mine):

First, I wrote down the major plot lines of the story. Mary kept asking questions until we figured out what the turning points of Acts 1 and 2 were (I'm still not sure I know what a turning point is, but Mary does!) and I wrote out everything that needed to happen in the story to get from the opening moment to the denouement.

This took the better part of 2 days. I have never, ever written a book this way. Ever!

However, since arriving back home, I am burning up the keyboard. I've jettisoned thousands of those words racked up when I was bragging about my word count to Sarah Miller (that is where pride gets you). But -- for now at least -- I feel I am finally writing with focus. I know that something I didn't reveal until about chapter 4 needs to be tapped on in the first chapter. I know why two of my main characters seem to dislike one another. And -- finally, finally, finally!-- I know how a particular but extremely important object in the story is tied to the resolution of both the A-plot and the B-plot.

My initial reaction to "hitting the wall" was about the same as my initial reaction to Darcy Pattison's suggestion to print off my manuscript in 8-point font for a revision workshop I took with her. Since kids might read this blog, I can't print my reaction.

If you don't have a big wall, just write on blank sheets of computer paper and string them together down a long hall or in a room you rarely use, like the dining room.

Don't tell Mary: but this was a really good idea.
It would've been even better with M&Ms.